Maryetta School: The Center of a Rural Community: Issues About Change, Volume 5, Number 1

Many school leaders face indifference from their surrounding communities. Yet one Oklahoma superintendent made his school the center of a Native American community. This paper summarizes the history of change and six key leadership strategies that led to academic improvements and high parental involvement at an award-winning, rural Oklahoma school where 82 percent of the students are American Indians. This paper describes:

• The school, its superintendent, the school district, and the community
• The superintendent's theory of learning and his six key leadership strategies
• Staff and faculty and their working relationships
• External factors that facilitate or impede school improvement

This publication is one of a series of briefing papers called Issues About Change.